Don Lemon<\/em> is CNN News anchor and journalist. He came out as gay in his 2011 memoir Transparent<\/em>, becoming a role model for gay black men getting into the journalism industry.<\/p>\n Raven-Symon\u00e9<\/em> is an actress and singer known for her roles in the shows The Cosby Show<\/em> and That\u2019s So Raven<\/em> as well as movies like The Cheetah Girls<\/em>. She came out as a member of the LGBTQ+ community in the mid 2010\u2019s but states she does not subscribe to particular labels.<\/p>\n Frank Ocean<\/em> is a singer, songwriter, and rapper known for an alternative R&B style. He published a letter on his Tumblr blog in 2012 expressing his feelings towards another man. He published an essay in 2016 following the Pulse Nightclub shooting, showing his frustration and explaining how in many cases hate perpetuated towards others is passed on from generation to generation.<\/p>\n Angel Haze is an agender<\/a> and pansexual rapper. She uses he and she pronouns<\/a>, and in a Buzzfeed<\/em> interview in 2015, he stated \u201cI don’t consider myself of any sex. I consider myself an experience.” He often writes and sings about diverse topics including homophobia, racism and mental health.<\/p>\n Audre Lorde<\/em> was an author, feminist and civil rights activist. She is known for her writings with an intersectional lens. Her poetry often related to civil rights movements, disability, her lesbian identity and her identity as a Black woman. She also addressed topics like toxic black male masculinity and socio-economic status. Her writings contributed to what is known as the third-wave feminist discourse.<\/p>\n Tracy Chapman<\/em> is an American singer known for hits like Fast Car<\/em> and Baby Can I Hold You<\/em>. She has won four Grammy awards and her discography spans over two decades. She rarely speaks of her sexual orientation but was in a relationship with her former partner Alice Walker<\/em> during the 1990\u2019s. Active on the social and political stages, she often performs at charity events.<\/p>\n James Baldwin<\/em> was an author, playwright, poet and civil rights activist. His literary career spanned from the 1950\u2019s to the 1980\u2019s. His social and political activism was omnipresent not only in his day to day life, but in the form of topics featured in his works and their respective protagonists. Two of his manuscripts, Remember This House<\/em> and If Beale Street Could Talk<\/em> were transformed into documentary I Am Not Your Negro<\/em> (2016) and film If Beale Street Could Talk<\/em> (2018).<\/p>\n Janet Mock<\/em> is a writer, TV host and transgender rights activist. After obtaining her Masters degree in journalism, she worked several years at People magazine as staff editor. She came out as a trans woman<\/a> in 2011 in Marie Claire<\/em> magazine, then becoming a media advocate. She has written several memoirs, and has become the first trans woman of color to obtain a production deal with a major content company, in her case Netflix.<\/p>\n Laverne Cox<\/em> is an actress and LGBTQ+ advocate. She rose to stardom in her role on Netflix series Orange is the New Black<\/em>, subsequently becoming the first transgender woman to be nominated for an Emmy for her role. She also starred and was the executive producer of the documentary Disclosure<\/em>, which addresses the representation and depiction of trans and nonbinary<\/a> individuals in American culture and media.<\/p>\n Janelle Mon\u00e1e<\/em> is a singer-songwriter and actress. She released three studio albums in 2010, 2013 and 2018, and ventured into acting in 2016 in the hit movie Hidden Figures<\/em>. She identifies simultaneously as bisexual and pansexual, and came out as nonbinary<\/a> in 2020.<\/p>\n Amandla Stenberg<\/em> is an actress and singer. Her breakout role in film was in the movie Hunger Games<\/em>, and has had numerous appearances in cinema, TV and music videos. They use both she\/her and they\/them pronouns<\/a>, and identifies as gay and nonbinary<\/a>.<\/p>\n Lil Nas X<\/em> is a rapper, singer, and songwriter. He was catapulted into the spotlight with his country rap hit Old Town Road<\/em>. He came out as gay following the release of the song, and became the first Black LGBTQ+ artist to win a Country Music Association Award.<\/p>\n Angela Davis<\/em> is a political activist and academic. She is a part of the grassroots movement against the \u201cprison-industrial complex\u201d, a prison abolition movement. For over five decades she has supported numerous social justice movements such as gay rights, Black liberation and Palestinian solidarity and against racism and sexism. Alongside activist Kimberl\u00e9 Crenshaw<\/em>, she founded the African American Alliance 2000, a group of Black feminists. She identifies as lesbian and lives with her life partner.<\/p>\n Marsha P. Johnson<\/a> was a gay liberation activist and Stonewall Riot<\/a> veteran. Alongside Sylvia Rivera<\/a>, she founded the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) organization and was an AIDS activist. She was unfortunately found dead in 1992, her cause of death unofficially considered a homicide.<\/p>\n Backxwash<\/em> is a Zambian-Canadian rapper based in Montreal. She came out<\/a> as transgender in 2018 after the release of her debut EP F.R.E.A.K.S<\/em>. Her 2020 album God Has Nothing to Do with This Leave Him Out of It<\/em> won the 2020 Polaris Music Prize.<\/p>\n